msmithbooks Chapter 61 Accident
Chapter 61 Accident
Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes, took out a poison bottle from his waist and weighed it in his hand: "It's too quiet, not even the chirping of insects, this is not normal."
Shen Yuan closed her eyes, sensed the airflow for a while, and shook her head: "There's nothing unusual in the wind, and I can't sense any obvious fluctuations in qi and blood deep in the forest. But it's definitely too quiet."
Several people stood at the edge of the treeline, unsure of what to do.
Taking a detour would add more than ten kilometers to the journey, and it might not be possible to reach the destination before dark.
Traveling in the wilderness at night is ten times more dangerous than during the day, and no experienced person would want to enter the active period of strange beasts at night.
Liu Xi turned his gaze to Song Chen, a slightly smirk playing on his lips: "How about... we send this kid to scout ahead? He's supposed to be the last one standing, so scouting is a form of reconnaissance, right?"
Zhao Hu frowned, seemingly considering the feasibility of the suggestion.
Zhou Yuan nodded: "That's fine. He has the lowest Qi and blood, making him a small target. Even if there's something inside, it won't be easily alerted. We'll wait here, and once he goes in and walks around for a while, we'll follow."
Shen Yuan glanced at Song Chen, a hint of amusement in her eyes, but said nothing.
Song Chen's expression remained unchanged.
He knew what these people meant; scouting was the most dangerous job in the wilderness, and it was reasonable to let the weakest person do it.
Song Chen thought for a moment, his eyes flashing with golden light, and suddenly, a dazzling spiritual energy fluctuation appeared in his pupils.
"Okay, I'll go scout ahead."
He lifted his foot and walked into the deadwood forest.
Behind him, Liu west muttered under his breath, "He actually went. How foolish."
Song Chen walked into the dead wood forest.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, making him look like a naive young man wandering aimlessly in the wilderness.
But in reality, the Eye of True Sight has already been activated silently.
The view suddenly became clear.
The gray-white tree trunk was no longer an obstacle in his eyes; the flow trajectory of the psionic particles was clearly discernible.
He scanned every inch of the forest. There were no signs of life in the piles of dead branches on the ground, no traces of strange beasts on the tree trunks, and no unusual spiritual energy fluctuations underground.
There is indeed no danger.
He continued walking forward for about two hundred meters, confirming that the middle section of the deadwood forest was safe, before turning back.
As Liu west walked out of the treeline, he was chatting with Zhao Hu. Seeing him come out, he casually asked, "How was it?"
"No problem, you can go."
Liu west scoffed and exchanged a glance with Liu Dong.
Zhao Hu nodded, picked up his heavy sword, and took the lead into the withered forest.
The procession filed in.
The formation has been slightly adjusted this time.
Zhao Hu remained in front, but Zhou Yuan retreated to the middle, explaining that the forest was too narrow for him to properly deploy the poisonous fog.
The Liu brothers walked side by side on either side of Zhou Yuan, while Shen Yuan and Song Chen remained at the very back.
As Liu west passed by Song Chen, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Not bad, kid. You've got guts. Follow me from now on."
Song Chen ignored him.
Liu Dong tugged at his younger brother and whispered, "Say less, let's get going."
The group traveled through the deadwood forest.
The gray-white tree trunks pressed in from both sides, and the withered branches overhead intertwined, cutting the sky into countless fragments.
Psionic particles filtered through the gaps, casting dappled light and shadow on the ground.
After walking for a while, Liu Xi started talking again.
"Brother Zhao, can you give me an estimate for the price of that snake's gallbladder?"
Zhao Hu didn't even turn his head: "The gallbladder of a peak-level third-tier Azure Scale Viper Python has a black market price of at least twelve million. If it's of good quality, it'll be even more expensive and people will still be scrambling to buy it."
"More than ten million..." Liu west whistled, clearly very satisfied with the number.
He became more and more excited as he thought about it, and continued, "The snake's wound is in its abdomen, right? My brother and I specialize in that spot. We stab it in with two knives, stir it up, and its internal organs rot."
"So what if you're at the peak of the third tier? A severely wounded beast is worse than a dog. Haven't you heard that saying?"
Liu Dong pulled his younger brother aside and lowered his voice: "Shut up, stop bragging."
Liu west didn't take it seriously and instead raised his voice: "I'm telling the truth. That snake, I'm telling you, I can cut its belly open in three cuts, no, two cuts."
"You've never even killed a mid-tier second-level alien beast on your own." Liu Dong's tone carried a hint of helplessness.
"That's different, this is finding a bargain!" Liu west said confidently.
"Didn't Brother Zhao say that it lost a fight with the Ironback Bear and is still injured? We might as well take advantage of this opportunity."
Zhao Hu didn't turn around, but his shoulders tensed slightly, a sign of his agitation.
Liu Dong tugged at his younger brother's sleeve and scolded him in a low voice, "Alright, stop embarrassing yourself."
Liu west muttered a few words in protest, but his voice gradually faded away.
Shen Yuan listened to all of this from the back, a slight smile playing on her lips, but she didn't say a word from beginning to end.
Song Chen walked at the back of the group, taking in the behavior of everyone.
The group continued onward, the forest of dead trees growing denser, the trunks on both sides almost touching, and the dead branches on the road becoming thicker and thicker, making a soft cracking sound when stepped on.
Zhao Hu slowed down noticeably, holding his heavy sword horizontally in front of him, taking each step with extreme caution.
Suddenly, he stopped.
"etc."
Everyone stopped at the same time.
Zhao Hu stared ahead, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead.
"What's wrong?" Liu Dong asked in a low voice.
Zhao Hu did not answer immediately. His Adam's apple bobbed, as if he were trying to figure something out.
Then he spoke, his voice very soft, but everyone could hear him clearly.
"Can you... smell anything?"
Everyone held their breath and sniffed carefully.
There was a faint fishy smell in the air, so faint that you wouldn't notice it unless you were deliberately looking for it.
But once you notice it, the fishy smell becomes clearer and stronger.
It looks like a snake.
Zhou Yuan's expression changed: "It's the scent of the Azure Scale Viper, but... no, this scent is too strong, it doesn't seem like it should come from a severely injured individual."
Before he could finish speaking, a muffled sound came from the dead woods ahead.
It wasn't the sound of movement, but the sound of breathing.
Heavy, slow breathing with a hissing finish.
Everyone's hair stood on end.
Zhao Hu suddenly raised his fist, made a stop gesture, and then slowly took a step back.
About fifty meters ahead, at the end of the deadwood forest, above a culvert covered by tree roots, a huge, emerald-green creature was coiled on the roadbed.
Green-scaled viper.
His lips trembled slightly as he uttered a few words in a voice that could only be heard by those around him:
"Third-tier... mid-stage aura... how could this be... wasn't he seriously injured? How could he have such an aura..."
Upon hearing this, Liu west's legs went weak on the spot.
Everyone present knew what the middle stage of the third rank meant.
Among them, even Zhao Hu, who had the best Qi and Blood, was still far behind.
This is not a hunt.
This is suicide.
"withdraw."
Zhao Hu forced out his voice through clenched teeth: "Be quiet, don't make a sound. Back out, take a detour."
Liu west was the first to turn around, but his foot slipped and he broke a dry branch.
"Click..."
The crisp snapping sound echoed through the silent, withered forest, like a bomb exploding in everyone's ears.
The Azure-Scaled Viper in front of them suddenly opened its eyes.
The amber-colored vertical pupils instantly locked onto the six humans fifty meters away.
"run!"
Zhao Hu's roar tore through his throat.
The six people turned around at the same time and ran back the way they came at top speed.
Liu west ran in the lead, his earlier boastful words completely forgotten. His legs went weak, and he almost fell several times.
Liu Dong was pulling him from behind, his face showing both fear and anger.
Zhou Yuan was in third place, holding a poison bottle in his hand but having no chance to use it. His agility was meaningless in the face of speed.
Zhao Hu's heavy sword was in the way, so he threw it away. The sword that had been with him for seven or eight years crashed to the ground with a dull thud, but he didn't even look back.